IDA Credit: US$89.4 million equivalentTerms: Maturity = 40 years; Grace = 10 yearsProject ID: P094183Project Description: The objectives of the project are to increase the availability of improved agricultural... Show More + technologies in participating countries in the Southern African Development Community region. Show Less -

WASHINGTON, March 8, 2013 – Despite the steady economic growth in many African countries over the last few years, gains have not always translated into greater gender equality or poverty reduction, the... Show More + World Bank announced today. To mark International Women’s Day, the World Bank’s Africa region launched two evidence based initiatives to step up its commitment to improve gender programs in Africa. First is the Africa Gender Action Plan, a five year blueprint for the Bank’s gender informed activities. Next is the Gender Innovation Lab that will bring scientific solutions through rigorous impact evaluation that will transform how the World Bank will identify development solutions for some of its poorest clients. Combined, the World Bank Africa Gender Action Plan and Gender Innovation Lab will link scientific evidence to guide gender-related lending operations in Africa.“In the past decade, African countries have made some considerable strides when it co Show Less -

Speaking at the Iceland Geothermal Conference in Reykjavik on March 6, World Bank Managing Director Sri Mulyani Indrawati called on donors, multilateral banks, governments and the private sector to join... Show More + the Plan and bring what is now a marginal renewable energy source into the mainstream to deliver power to millions.“Geothermal energy could be a triple-win for developing countries: clean, reliable, locally-produced power. And once it is up and running, it is cheap and virtually endless,” said Sri Mulyani Indrawati. “The World Bank Group, and many of our partners, support the goals of the Sustainable Energy for All initiative, led by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and our President Jim Yong Kim. Two of those goals are universal access to modern energy services, and doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix. Geothermal energy will be a major step towards both.”Many developing world regions are rich in geothermal resources, including East Africa, Southea Show Less -

WASHINGTON, March 4, 2013 - Africa’s farmers and agribusinesses could create a trillion-dollar food market by 2030 if they can expand their access to more capital, electricity, better technology and irrigated... Show More + land to grow high-value nutritious foods, and if African governments can work more closely with agribusinesses to feed the region’s fast-growing urban population, according to a new World Bank report launched today. According to the Growing Africa: Unlocking the Potential of Agribusiness report, Africa’s food systems, currently valued at US$313 billion a year from agriculture, could triple if governments and business leaders radically rethink their policies and support to agriculture, farmers, and agribusinesses, which together account for nearly 50 percent of Africa’s economic activity.“The time has come for making African agriculture and agribusiness a catalyst for ending poverty,” says Makhtar Diop, World Bank Vice President for Africa Region. “We cannot overstate the importanc Show Less -

ChallengesUganda has a record of prudent macroeconomic management and structural reform. Despite various exogenous shocks, annual growth in gross domestic product (GDP) averaged six percent in the 1990s,... Show More + and accelerated to over seven percent in the 2000s. Due to high population growth, real GDP growth per capita averaged only 3.4% over the 1990s, and just over four percent over the 2000s. Oil production will change Uganda’s economic outlook, but full-scale production is unlikely to begin before 2016. Continued economic prosperity in Uganda will require moving the economy to a higher productivity level and integrating all regions into the development process. Uganda must also invest in alleviating bottlenecks to growth, particularly in energy and transport, infrastructure, and in delivering better quality social services through more efficient public sector management.ApproachIn February 2010, the Government of Uganda finalized a new five-year National Development Plan (NDP) spanning fi Show Less -

KAMPALA, February 14, 2013—As Ugandan traders take advantage of emerging markets like the newly independent state of South Sudan and neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, farmers like Hajji Naleba... Show More + have seen their profit margins increase.Naleba is a rice farmer in the Eastern District of Butaleja in Uganda. He has been growing rice since 1982 at his Lwoba irrigation farm in Masulula village.“We started with low production,” Naleba says. “Now we are reaching 1.2 tons per acre.”According to Naleba, the last few years have seen high demand from Sudan. “There’s no rice in Sudan, so this is an opportunity to harness,” he says.A new report from the World Bank shows how, in addition to produce, this “Pearl of Africa” can export manufactured goods to the region, as well as services like education, tourism and even transit. But, it says, transport and logistics, and non-tariff barriers remain a hefty challenge. Challenges to economic growthInternational experience suggests that it is ha Show Less -

Kampala, February 14, 2013 - Uganda can earn an additional $2.5 billion from non-traditional trading partners in the region and close the trade deficit in the next five years if it removes trade barriers... Show More + with neighbors, the World Bank announced today. Doing so could also help the East African country stabilize the economy in the face of a slowdown in overall growth and reduced aid flows, the World Bank says."Looking beyond the East African Community, Uganda must position herself as the land bridge to link other landlocked countries to the coastal economies," said Ahmadou Moustapha Ndiaye, World Bank Country Manager. "Regional integration and trade is the best opportunity for a brighter economic outlook,” concludes Mr. Ndiaye.In the first economic update for Uganda titled “Bridges Across Borders: Unleashing Uganda’s Regional Trade Potential”, the World Bank urges the country that a more rapid diversification of the economy and the appropriate use of resources, Show Less -

New report finds that improvements in border administration and transport & telecommunications infrastructure and services could result in an up to 4.7% increase in global GDP, far outweighing potential... Show More + income gains from complete elimination of import tariffs.Governments should take a holistic approach that considers the entire supply chain, focusing on all policies that impact supply chain efficiency to improve national competitiveness.SME sector would witness increased trade with solutions to specific constraints that disproportionately affect smaller companies.Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, 23 January 2013 – Reducing supply chain barriers could increase global GDP and world trade much more than reducing all import tariffs, according to a new report released today by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with Bain & Company and the World Bank.Enabling Trade: Valuing Growth Opportunities finds that if all countries reduce supply chain barriers halfway to global best practice Show Less -

WASHINGTON, January 3, 2012 - The World Bank Group today announced the debarment of Energoprojekt Niskogradnja, a Serbian civil engineering and contracting company - for a period of 2.5 years following... Show More + the company’s acknowledgment of misconduct in a Bank-financed roads and development project in Uganda.The 2.5 years debarment is part of a Negotiated Resolution Agreement between Energoprojekt and the World Bank Group following an investigation by the World Bank Integrity Vice Presidency.“This case is just another example of why fighting corruption matters for the World Bank as well as for companies that are engaged in development projects,” said Leonard McCarthy, World Bank Integrity Vice President. “Clean business is smart business. We will pursue our efforts to maximize the value of infrastructure development,” he said.Under the agreement, Energoprojekt Niskogradnja commits to cooperate with the World Bank’s Integrity Vice Presidency and continue to improve their internal Show Less -

eTransform Africa also documents the flowering of technology hubs across Africa – such as iHub and NaiLab in Kenya, Hive CoLab and AppLab in Uganda, Activspaces in Cameroon, BantaLabs in Senegal, Kinu... Show More + in Tanzania or infoDev’s mLabs in Kenya and South Africa.These hubs are creating new spaces for collaboration, innovation, training, applications and content development, and for pre-incubation of African firms.“Africa is rapidly becoming an ICT leader. Innovations that began in Africa – like dual SIM card mobile phones, or using mobile phones for remittance payments – are now spreading across the continent and beyond,” says Tim Kelly, lead ICT policy specialist at the World Bank and an author of the report.“The challenge going forward is to ensure that ICT innovations benefit all Africans, including the poor and vulnerable, and those living in remote areas,” he adds.Lessons for policy makersAccording to eTransform Africa, the experiences so far offer many useful lessons for African polic Show Less -

New Report Highlights Innovations, Home-Grown Solutions in Eight Key SectorsWASHINGTON, December 10, 2012 --- Information and Communication Technology (ICT) innovations are delivering home-grown solutions... Show More + in Africa, transforming businesses, and driving entrepreneurship and economic growth, says a joint report published by the World Bank and African Development Bank (AfDB), with support from the African Union. The report, eTransform Africa: The Transformational Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Africa, provides new data on the technological revolution that is taking place in Africa and its transformational impact on the continent’s development. At the start of 2012, there were some 650 million mobile subscriptions, making the African mobile telephony market bigger than either the EU or the United States. Some 68,000 km of submarine cable and over 615,000 km of national backbone networks have been laid, greatly increasing connectivity across Africa. The Inte Show Less -

Study Points to New Ways of Thinking about Urban Water Management Using Integrated Approaches Dakar, December 6, 2012 --- As Africa urbanizes at a faster rate than any other region in the world,... Show More + a more integrated approach to urban water management is needed to solve complex water challenges in Africa’s teeming, thirsty cities, making them more sustainable and resilient, says a World Bank report presented today at the AfriCities Summit in Dakar, Senegal. The report collates lessons of experience from 31 cities in Africa and globally, and shows how such approaches are leading to home-grown innovative solutions that could help guide the design of plans elsewhere. The World Bank report, “The Future of Water in African Cities: Why Waste Water?” aims to change the way policy makers think about urban water management, planning, and project design in Africa. It argues that by adopting integrated urban water management (IUWM) approaches, policy makers in African cities have a real chance Show Less -

The IUWM approach in actionThe IUWM approach seeks to improve urban water systems by urging policy makers to adopt a holistic view of all components of the urban water cycle."Urban water infrastructure... Show More + in the future will look quite different compared to now. It will consider water scarcity and quality, as well as energy use and generation in an entirely different way,” according to Julia Bucknall, Sector Manager, Water Unit at the World Bank.Some of the critical questions an IUWM approach raise include: How is upstream land use and irrigation impacting water availability and quality downstream? Are pit latrines and poor sanitation conditions contaminating groundwater? Is solid waste clogging drains and thus causing flooding? Does water for street cleaning and parks have to be potable? Is water optimized for its multiple uses – drinking irrigation, and manufacturing? The recent World Bank report highlights success stories of African cities that Show Less -

WASHINGTON, November 29, 2012 – The world cannot afford for high and volatile food prices to be the “new normal,” while millions of people continue to suffer from hunger and to die from malnutrition, the... Show More + World Bank Group warned today.“A new norm of high prices seems to be consolidating,” said Otaviano Canuto, World Bank Group’s Vice President for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management. “The world cannot afford to be complacent to this trend while 870 million people still live in hunger and millions of children die every year from preventable diseases caused by malnutrition.”According to the latest edition of the World Bank Group’s Food Price Watch report, published quarterly, global food prices stabilized following last July’s record peak. In October, prices were 5 percent below that peak. Prices were driven down by fats and oils, with more modest declines in grains. Seasonal increase in supplies, the absence of panic policies, such as food export restrictions, and better expec Show Less -

New Studies Show Potential Impact of Programs for Sex Workers, People Who Inject Drugs, and Men Who Have Sex with MenWASHINGTON, November 28, 2012 – As the world prepares to commemorate World AIDS Day... Show More + on December 1, two new World Bank studies urge governments and their development partners to provide better prevention, care, and treatment services for sex workers and people who inject drugs as an important step toward ensuring a world free of AIDS.The studies are the second and third in a three-part series on key populations at higher risk in low- and middle-income countries. In June 2011, the World Bank and partners launched the first study, which focused on men who have sex with men.“In many countries, sex workers, people who inject drugs, and men who have sex with men remain marginalized in society and vulnerable to HIV,” said David Wilson, World Bank Global AIDS Program Director. “Even in countries with epidemics in the general population, these groups are disproportionately affect Show Less -

DR. KIM: Thank you, all, so much for coming and welcome to the World Bank.As always, I have some very nice prepared remarks, and so I will give them out of respect for the people who prepared them,... Show More + but I'm also going to talk a little bit about from personal experiences. Hundreds of millions of children and adults in Africa live at risk of disfigurement, impaired development, blindness, and even death from seven major preventable, neglected--so called neglected tropical diseases, includes river blindness, elephantiasis, trachoma, and various types of [? 00:37] [unclear] parasites. It's not that these diseases really have been neglected. It's the people who suffer from them who have been neglected. Protecting poor people from preventable diseases and from acute suffering remains a part of our mission to end poverty and [unclear] Show Less -

KAMPALA, November 14, 2012 - The World Bank Group is concerned about recent allegations of misuse of public funds in Uganda and is calling for remedial action. The World Bank Group condemns all acts... Show More + of corruption for depriving countries of the means to achieve better development outcomes. The recent allegations indicate that the overall fiduciary environment in Uganda needs to be strengthened to ensure better management of public resources. The World Bank will continue to work with the Government of Uganda and other development partners to help the country deliver on its national policy of “zero” tolerance for corruption. In light of these recent events, the World Bank Group is reviewing its development assistance to Uganda while also strengthening its own measures to ensure that its funds are used for their intended purposes. Show Less -

Financial disclosure is a powerful anti-corruption toolWASHINGTON, November 8, 2012– Financial disclosure laws requiring public officials to file a statement of their assets, liabilities and interests... Show More + can make corruption easier to detect. However, a new World Bank database finds that although 78 percent of countries covered by the database have financial disclosure systems, only 36 percent systematically check public servants’ disclosures for irregularities and inconsistencies.To support countries in their fight against corruption, the World Bank is launching the Financial Disclosure Law Library to help policymakers and practitioners establish strong financial disclosure systems. The Library compiles over 1,000 laws and regulations on financial disclosure and restrictions on public officials’ activities from 176 countries.Financial disclosure by public officials provides law enforcement with information and evidence for the prevention, investigation and prosecution of corruption, illic Show Less -

WASHINGTON, November 2, 2012 – The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has endorsed a move that will make the Bank’s original financing instrument more effective and clear for governments, staff,... Show More + and civil society organizations, the Bank announced today. The Bank has consolidated the policies and procedures governing Investment Financing, the main lending vehicle available to clients to support specific investments ranging from infrastructure to social safety nets to judicial reform. Investment Finance was the Bank’s original financing instrument for making loans for post-World War II reconstruction in Europe in the late 1940s. Over time, the lending policy has evolved, resulting in a maze of 30-some policy and procedure statements that have now been consolidated into a single coherent policy. The critical policies of procurement and environmental and social safeguards are on a separate track and are now undergoing public consultations. “This is part of a larger effort to moderni Show Less -